What is the sizing differences between a Stabdard LCD & Widescreen LCD?

Question

I currently have a standard size 17" LCD display. I've been thinking of getting a 19" Widescreen LCD display. I've heard that they are sized differently because of the wider screen aspect. I would assume that the 19" would be just like a standard 19" just a little wider. What is the sizing differences between a 19" widescreen LCD and a standard LCD?

Answer 1

The measurement is the diagonal distance from one corner of the screen to the opposite corner.

This take no account of the aspect ratio of the screen.

At an extreme, if you had a 19" screen that was 0.001" high and 18.9999 inches wide you can see that this would actually have very little screen area. In fact the most screen area is for a square, the further you move from a square the less the actual screen area is. So a 19" widescreen has fewer square inches of screen than a 19" regular.

A 19" widescreen will probably have a resolution of 1440 by 900 - giving 1.296 Mpixels.

A regular 19" will have 1280 by 1024 giving 1.311 Mpixels. (as will your 17" monitor)

So you will get slightly higher resolution on the regular.

However, it you watch a movie on your computer, then the aspect ratio of the widescreen is much closer to the aspect ratio of a widescreen movie. So the picture will be bigger, and the black bands at the top and bottom of the screen smaller on the widescreen.

For regular computing, things tend to be more vertically orientated, so the taller screen is better. Yahoo, for example, fix the width of a lot of their web pages, so a widescreen, with a shorter height shows less information and bigger blank areas on each side.

If you tend to open a lot of windows at once, then having them spread across a widescreen can be easier to use. Your brain is happier looking side to side than it is looking up or down.


There is no universally compelling reason to go either way. It really does depend on what you like.

Widescreens are becoming very popular. I suspect that this is for two reasons:

1. Widescreens are 'new and improved' so they are being marketed and perceived as being better.

2. LCD manufacturers have geared up to mace LCD TVs - which are widescreen - so they get better efficiency, and so profit, from making widescreen monitors.

Answer 2

To give you an example I have a 22" widescreen LCD that im using right now. I have next to it a 19" standard LCD. They are the same brand and similar in look except size of course.

The screen area on them goes like this. Both monitors have the same height if you are measuring the actual screen top to bottom. which is about 11 3/4 inches.
The wide of the standard 19" is 14 /34" the wide of the 22" widescreen is 18 1/2"
Again thats the actual screen not the case.

So the difference is pretty much solely on width of the screen.
It has a different feel but its great. And they are getting so inexpensive to buy now.

Answer 3

Widescreen LCD are that precisely--widescreen. They are wider. Widescreen LCDs are customarily much less highly-priced. It's all an issue of selection whether or not you wish a widescreen or now not.

Answer 4

They measure the screen diagonally to get the inches(19") for TV's and monitors. I hope that helps.